These are actually 2015 pics, but right now those lilacs are almost as gloriously profuse, and the irises which were sulking all through our very rainy March & April have all burst into bloom simultaneously. It makes the ugly reality that I’m gonna spend a lot of sweaty hours digging up & dividing those irises somewhat less daunting…
A month ago, the only color in our front yard was the defiant yellow of hardy daffodils and forsythia. Two months from now (Murphy the Trickster God willing) the color palette will have shifted again to shades of apricot, pink, and cream as the roses and daylilies come into bloom. My garden ‘planning’ mostly amounts to ‘oooh this is a pretty plant, let’s find a place to jam it in and see if it survives’, so it’s a nice surprise when the result actually seems… intentional!
I’m going to need all the inspiration I can get, because the first half-dozen mail-order tomatoes just arrived, and the other 16 are due on Monday or Tuesday. That means lugging home some three dozen 30qt sacks of potting mix (I can’t lift larger bags, and there’s no room to get a dumpload delivered) and a strenuous couple weeks’ worth of hauling rootpouches and tomato ladders into place. Here’s hoping the resulting crop is less discouraging than last year’s near-total failure.
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
OzarkHillbilly
Hmmmmm…. Who else does that sound like?
Beautiful Anne, nice when it comes together despite our better efforts.
SectionH
I repotted “the” orchid yesterday. The poor brave Trader Joe’s orchid that our upstairs neighbor “gave” us as an “oops sorry about that” after they’d flooded our hall bathroom the 3rd time… it’s ok, we’re still friendly. But:
Hint to not-plant people: a lovely bouquet is very much appreciated. A living plant, not so much. You wouldn’t give somebody a puppy as a “thank you”, right? Scale it down, yeah, but you’re still giving me a living thing. Which I will worry about for years or feel guilty about if I kill it.
OzarkHillbilly
@SectionH:
3 weeks into a gardening hobby would fix that problem for you: “Die, die, DIE you fucking, soul sucking weeds!!!!”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Blech.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ? ??
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Killing things, it’s a hobby.
SectionH
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh sweetie, gardening isn’t a hobby, it’s a way of life.
It’s why I still have buckets of compostable stuff to dump in the composter we “bought for” (yeah, imposed on) the kids who have a place to garden now. We have about 70 sq ft on a north balcony (7th floor) and we still compost. “The kids” (he’s 45, she’s not ridiculously younger) have just created their first raised beds – they were so proud of them, and I just melted, and they still have our srsly choice Sapotes (amazingly tasty fruit, doesn’t travel) and a biggest Laurus nobilis, that we were growing inna pot, and other stuff I don’t remember now.
Comment was more about back up and doing something, and then an actual editorial.
Mary G
Gorgeousness! Purple might be my favorite color. Those are all so spectacular.
NotMax
@SectionH
It’s gift wrapping them that’s the real bitch.
;)
SectionH
@OzarkHillbilly: Kinda like republicans, innit?
Yes, there are weeds I’ve hated. But they were just invasive plants.
OzarkHillbilly
@SectionH:
No, it’s a curse, a form of OCD in which one is deluded into thinking that somehow, someway, they can defy nature and recreate the world in a form more pleasing to themselves. Every spring hope is revived like the first delicate shoots of asparagus, but In the end, everything dies anyway.
And we all breath a sigh of relief.
OzarkHillbilly
@SectionH: Heh.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
I would have thought that persuading the puppy to keep quiet and not give the surprise away would be the real problem.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m already looking forward to winter.
mrmoshpotato
‘oooh this is a pretty plant, let’s find a place to jam it in and see if it survives’
ROFLMAO!
Why did Cole have to place a moratorium on new categories? WHY?! ?
At least I can mentally file all future gardening threads under ‘Jamming plants into the ground.’
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: My ache for the return of winter hits me about mid July. It usually takes the form of relentless sweating.
raven
Well I don’t know what os in the CBD oil that I bought and maybe it was the two Naproxen I took because my foot hurt so much but I slept as well as I have in a long time. They said the cbd oil wouldn’t even kick in for few days so I don’t know.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Sleep is good.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Can I interest you in a self-unwrapping puppy?
Sab
@mrmoshpotato: I love dogs, but why would anyone want a puppy?
Pre-owned dogs often come house-broken, bored with shoes, and grateful.
Puppies miss their mom and siblings, and their new teeth hurt so they chew everything.
Anne Laurie
@raven:
It may well be a placebo effect, but I’ve found that two gummies before bed helps me get more uninterrupted sleep. Now, when I forget them, I remember it in the morning!
mrmoshpotato
@Sab: The cuteness? Who knows? Why is David Letterman trying to sell a sock monkey in Cabin Boy?
satby
@OzarkHillbilly:
I don’t think I realized it before, but that’s exactly what it is.
evodevo
I LOVE the lilacs…I have a neglected one down on the front of our property, and have been wanting to bring transplants up the hill to the house for years…but how do you do that? the once or twice I have attempted it, they failed…and the original shrub seems impenetrable. Do you have to take an ax to it to separate the parts? or what? It would take a bobcat to dig the whole thing up…
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning ?
Today was supposed to be a big yard work day, but of course it was lightly raining when I took the dogs out at 6:30. I hope it stops soon because the guy who’s cutting down and removing the ratty evergreens in front of the house is supposed to be here around noon. I still have so many plants to get in the ground that I want to put in the bed the evergreens are coming out of.
Sab
So i guess today spouse and I begin our new battle of the air conditioner. We only got central air-conditioning about two years ago. We got window units about 5 years before that. We’ve been here 20 years.
Spouse has cluster headaches, which air conditioners set off. It’s going to be 87 today.
What kind of monster am I that I want the airconditioning on, when it will blow up his head. Dogs agree with me, it’s hot. Cats agree with him, not even close to warm.
There is no global warming.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: You know it’s bad when one reaches the close of phase 1 of their latest insanity and actually pats themselves on the back for ‘accomplishing’ something, like it’s ever going to actually be completed.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: We’re getting a winter storm cycle here on the west coast, it’s raining right now and snowing in the local mountains.
SectionH
@Amir Khalid: It’s a puppy. It’s the wetness of the wrapping paper in 3-2-oops!
satby
@evodevo: if you can look for suckers (small side shoots off the original plant), you can take them by slicing through the side root with a sharp spade and transplanting the sucker. But they’re so small it will be about 4-5 years before the resulting lilac will be big enough to flower. Same goes for taking cuttings to root, they have to be young, green branches to root better, and again, it’s a long wait until the resulting lilac bush is old enough to flower. The ones you see for sale in big box stores that might have a flower or two are usually at least 5 years old.
satby
@Sab: can you compromise by having one cooled room with a window unit he stays out of? Or keep the central air on at a higher temp just to keep it bearable (like 78)? Or have him stay in a room with the register closed so the air isn’t blowing on him? Why does he sit so close anything is blowing on him anyway?
Truthfully though, I would just divorce the guy ?
oldgold
Recently I read an article that used a passage from Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22 to poke fun at the hypocrisy of Trumpian farmers concern over creeping socialism.
Reading this passage, I realized Major Major’s father farmed like I garden. And, unfortunately, may have had a similar sense of humor.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Sab: We disagree on AC too, but at least nobody gets headaches. I finally got him to cool the bedroom to 69, which is still higher than I’d like, but he huddles under the extra blankets over there on the other side of the bed.
Sab
@satby: No divorce. He is absolutely a keeper. He adopted a messed up ten year old kid out of foster care and hung in there until she turned into a lovely person ( it was a LONG HAUL.) Headaches are not his fault.
I hate window units. Loud, ineffective, let hot air when not running so you have to use them all the time.
Cluster headaches aren’t fun. People routinely kill themselves to get away from the pain. He doesn’t sit in front of the blower. Changes in barometric pressure sets his headaches off. Anywhere in the house is subject to that. Also when weather fronts move through. He’s our human barometer.
Sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My first husband was a Minnesotan. I grew up in Florida. He moved us to Las Vegas. He kept the house at 60 degrees. I spent most of my days in the yard. A 40 degree shift from inside to outside was nuts, plus we risked freezing up our airconditioner so it would fail and the dogs would have died of heatstroke.
SectionH
@satby: I’m in srs danger of being earnest, so nah. But I think gardeners were the first Hope over Experience people…
Lapassionara
Well, raining here, so the long list of yard chores will have to wait. And the weeds will just get bigger and harder to dislodge.
satby
@Sab: some of that was snark, of course. Glad he’s a good guy.
satby
@satby: tried to edit and screwed it up. My BFF has had 3-4 or more migraines per week for over 40 years, the newest injectable drugs have changed her life. Don’t know if they would help your husband, but he might want to ask about them.
Sab
@satby: I know that.
How can I buy your shampoo without signing up for an etsy account?I hate signing up for accounts in yet another social media. Life is limited but uncomplicated as a luddite.
WereBear
On top of everything else, we had a late spring. But I have an indoor and outdoor begonia, some kind of frost resistant petunia in the sunniest hanging basket, and a rescue rosebush that is currently soaking up sun and water prior to me digging a hole.
Love the pics!
Unlike the past winter, my absence lately is not because I’m so sick, but because I’m so busy. :) A new treatment plan is kicking in, I have an appointment with a Small Business Administration Mentor (TBA) and I’m getting pleasant feedback on my latest venture, a Way of Cats Zazzle Store.
Click on the link for some of my Cat Art!
satby
@Lapassionara: and when I just looked outside it’s gone from a light rain to pouring. My dinner plate dahlia tubers are starting to grow in their holding bucket.
grandmaBear
I only have a 3’ by 4’ section left to weed in my garden. Of course then I get to start over because the first sections I did are starting to show weeds again. And maybe I’ll get some berries or veggies out of this. I think it may be better to look at it as therapy than small scale farming.
OzarkHillbilly
My sweet peppers go in the ground today, only 2, no… 3 weeks later than normal. We got some rain last night but not enough to impede this last planting of veggies. Managed to finally get the beans, eggplants, cukes, and melons (my own personal gesture of futile hope over experience) (like the critters won’t get them first) planted this week. I have a lot of mulching still to do but at least this year I appear to have enough of my own homemade stuff to suffice. The seeds I’ve sowed in the various flower gardens are germinating as they should and the various plants and bulbs are pushing forth on schedule. The only thing the ‘Zen’ garden still lacks is electricity for the fountain, something I will finish hooking up today or tomorrow,
Then it’s on to the next project or 3.
WereBear
@Mary G: Purple IS my favorite color.
Sab
@satby: Over thirty years he has tried everything. Pfizer Pharm even tried him on an off-label antiseizure medication. His arms went numb while he was driving home from work (hour commute). He drove home with his elbows. Been wary of medication since. Marijuana does help but illegal so not much used.
satby
AL, I should have said it earlier, but your lilacs and iris are glorious. My lilac shrubs are about a year from beginning to flower, but they overwintered well and are all thriving. My iris bed is a grassy disaster and the continuing rain is keeping me from attacking the weeds and grass in it. I know I lost several iris to rot this year ?
satby
@Sab: well, this stuff just got approved last winter. It’s given my friend her life back when nothing helped her before. Might be worth asking about.
Sab
@grandmaBear: Scheduled our rental goats for August. Looking at the current blackberry patch that’s probably a couple of months too late.
Today I take on the poison ivy then pop into a shower with fels naptha and that fancy expensive stuff, then just pray.
satby
@grandmaBear: I was way late to the thread, but so happy your baby bear is doing well! Wonderful news!
WereBear
@Sab: He needs his own room.
satby
@Sab: send an email to sbarrt at hotmail (dot com). Let me know what you want and you can use PayPal to pay.
In general comment news, seriously thinking of winding down the Etsy store. Etsy is getting difficult to work with.
debbie
I remember that lilac photo up top, and it’s still awesome, after all these years. Good luck with your back, Anne!
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I still haven’t gotten my tomatoes in the ground because I need a day of no rain to coincide with a day I’m not working to set up the temporary bed I planned for them to go into. They’re over two feet high!
debbie
@Baud:
Only four months until it starts cooling down! (Hopefully.)
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Whoops!
debbie
@Sab:
What about using floor fans to move the air around? I get through most of the summer with just fans, but if I have to resort to AC, I can set it at a higher temperature.
Sab
@WereBear: Shadow (formerly mean kitty, an adopted semi-feral) sends her regards and her respect to you for having tamed her human keeper and persuaded the said human to stop being mean to cats.
Immanentize
@satby:
But did you have a great Birthday?
And happy Sunday, All.
Graduation day for my students. Which is all fine and good for a hot second — then they start bar prep Wednesday.
Immanetize
@OzarkHillbilly:
I agree with your definition of gardening. It is also a form of practicing humility in that failures are likely and successes always surprising.
Gretchen
It’s supposed to go down to 39 this week. In late May. In Kansas.
Marigold
I signed up for a plot in the local community garden, so my plan for the week is to get plants in the ground. (If the rain holds off till late afternoon, I might be able to make a start today.) I severely underestimated how much space was in a 15 × 36 plot– even with the critters they warned about, we’re going to be buried in produce!
Suburban Mom
@Sab: Do you have a way of getting rid of poison ivy? I’ve had very little success killing or even slowing it down. Mine is intermingled with stuff I don’t want to kill.
Sab
@WereBear: TV is in the living room. Me getting cable was a condition of him moving in way back when. When we got married in 2001 I didn’t have cable and my TV was a black and white thing I bought at a yard sale years before.
He likes cable a lot . It has sports.
I only watch soccer, and I root for the northmost English premier league, at random.
satby
@Immanentize: I had a nice birthday, thanks.
Tempered a bit by my hospice dog Hershey throwing up all over the house last night. He’s better today, but now refusing his painkillers (hidden in canned dog food) so I know we’re getting close to the end. He’s not in any obvious pain and is mostly sleeping peacefully; we got two extra months of love together, so whatever happens now is fine. He’s snoring, as a matter of fact. I think it was a new food because he’s not the only one who had an upset stomach from it so I’m hoping he decides to nibble a bit later.
satby
@Suburban Mom: if you don’t want to kill the stuff around it you have to pull it by hand before it gets too big.
I kill everything around it, I figure I’ll just replant what I want. Makes me sad to lose a plant I like, but I HATE poison ivy.
Sab
@Suburban Mom: @Suburban Mom:
I have tried pulling it up (slows it down a bit) and Roundup, which does nothing and scares the hell out of me. Goats eat it to the ground but it comes back next year.
Goddamn fucking previous neighbor ignored it when it could be killed or pulled, then hired an idiot to weed whack it when it inevitably got out of control. Weed whacked poison ivy stays in the ground for years. I break out when I don’ t even know I have touched any part of a plant.
New neighbor seems sensible. She is busy inside. Happy for us to do whatever inside as long as we don’t encroach on her legal property rights outside. Permissive mowing, weeding and goats are okay.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Sab: Yesterday, my twitter feed was full of Eurovision chatter. I don’t always get Eurovision.
Immanetize
@satby: Poor Hershey. Poor Satby! More snoring for all in the future, I hope.
My neighbor’s dog Bella is in the same position as Hershey. But she still likes to be around her people if only to lie quietly nearby and take it all in head on paw.
satby
@Immanetize: yeah, wherever I am he comes to lie down next to me and go back to sleep. So I stay where he can be next to me and tell him what an excellent boy he has been while gently petting him. He’s not acting agitated or uncomfortable, just tired. I’m letting him guide me in how to be now.
Sab
@Suburban Mom: I used to pull it and hope. Didn’t work. Then I tried painting it with Roundup. Didn’t work much. This year we are trying black paint on the stumps. Works for everything else.Wish us well.
WereBear
@Sab: I feel for him. Glad he’s a keeper :)
MomSense
@satby: ?
TerryC
I still haven’t figured out how to send a pic, but I “garden” trees. Specifically, I have planted 8,000+ trees on my 19 acres in the past four years. I am reforesting the 12 acres that used to be farmed. And it’s all designed in the shape of three 9-hole Frisbee golf courses ranging from 2,300-4,400’ in length. Every nut and fruit that grows in Michigan is in there from apricots to persimmons and paw paws to walnuts. Lots of walnuts.
Today we will plant sycamore, mulberry, black locust, and catalpa saplings.
debbie
@satby:
You really are such a good person.
Quinerly
@TerryC: amazing.
???❤️?
satby
@TerryC: mail them to Anne Laurie! That’s a great project and I bet lots of us would love to see pictures, I sure would.
Whereabouts in Michigan (general region is fine).
satby
@MomSense: thanks. As long as he’s feeling peaceful we’re fine.
@debbie: thanks! Not everyone would agree though ?
WereBear
Email me if you wish, I’ve searched ways of doing it on your own, with a shopping cart, etc. Cheap.
WereBear
@Sab: I love it!
This is what keeps me going :)
satby
@WereBear: ok, I will. Decision not immanent because I have so much going on right now, but down the road something needs to adjust because I am overloaded.
jeffreyw
Every good feedlot operation requires a stern overseer.
paradox
Well, I know what you mean about hauling sacks. Every Fall I lug around 50 1 cubic foot chicken manure sacks for my roses, and by Christmas I’ve been seriously scratched and sore. I’m afraid roses are like women, they absolutely must be served, and not matter what you do there will always be blood and wounds.
The suburban front is ablaze, the back smashed with nasturtiums for now but not much in the summer, light and water are an issue.
Please excuse me but cheeriness seems evasive, it’s the only dream of mine that’s ever come become reality. In a city of 975,000 my three gardens of 56 canes are the top 25 of this god damn town, I wouldn’t lie. I am a master rose gardener, a badass of shears and shovel, aphids and powdery mildew slain with the easy warrior disdain they deserve.
[shrugs] All very true, yet…we live in the times thrust upon us, and my instant defiance of all the absurdity fades with each year, you just wander around, custodian to what is given in the time you are allowed. I still stand with my hoe and shovel, in service to the earth, not beaten down yet, motherfuckers, not yet.
Gvg
I am procrastinating. 2 months ago I bought a new to me house which had almost no gardening done. Some lovely live oaks, some invasive that needed to go and otherwise blank slate. It’s pretty much summer here in Florida and I was racing the clock since I bought to get the heavy stuff done before it’s to hot. The last month has been several big local plant sales, plus gift plants from mom and friends. Yesterday was a huge sale and afterwards I spent the day planting almost everything I have acquired. Today I ache all over but I am so close to caught up….I also need to do a little refurbishment of the shed so we can make room in the garage for dads boat. It’s boating season and he wants to move it from currently 40 miles away to my extra garage space 1 mile away. I think this summer should have more boat rides, more sudden “the weathers nice, let’s go somewhere”. However today, it means more work.
I must have planted 50 plants yesterday. Lots of future flowers, many ferns. I have been falling for ferns for several years now. As the weather gets hot, live oak shade is the best kind of gardening.
rikyrah
@Marigold:
When it gets going, please send in pictures ?
WereBear
@satby: It’s a great thing to foster for hospice :)
I get through it determined to help them as much as I can. And that is enough to transform us both, I think.
Immanentize
Oh damn! Ozark!! Are you still lurking? I have a question specially suited to your talents.
I had a very big maple tree in my back yard that was sickly and cut down. My neighbor wanted the wood to burn and for two years he has had big chunks in his back yard. This weekend he got busy and cut and split it into smaller big chunks. Here’s the Q:
He split one large piece and it has good burl. I’m hoping to make an outdoor bench out of this half-log (split face is probably 4′ by 2′). How do I “seal” the section I want to sit on? Should I do the same with the whole log?
MomSense
@paradox:
I’m so envious of your roses! The last of my roses is just a sad stalk – our winters have been too brutal the last four years.
A cottage garden just isn’t the same without roses.
Alas the rugosas that were planted in an unfortunate location by the previous owner are still going strong. If rugosas fail, surely the end of the world is nigh.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: I’m so old that when I was in law school, we could take the bar exam in January of our third year. That was awesome. Before I had to endure the agony of taking another state’s bar exam, I had my Georgia results. At that point I had my bar card, a job, and the girl I was going to marry, so it all worked out beautifully!
Except for, you know, the whole having to be a lawyer thing….
Immanentize
@jeffreyw:
I love your pictures from the feeder. The Jays in my ‘hood would rather street (air?) fight than supervise. I live in a tough neighborhood.
Baud
@satby:
Those people are assholes.
satby
@paradox: @MomSense: yeah, I am jealous too! I had decent luck with roses both in Chicago and Michigan, but since moving here 1/2 of the ones I planted failed. [And an aside, Jackson and Perkins hasn’t even replied to my email about the last two failures. Never ordering from them again.]
satby
@Baud: ? luv you Baud!
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL:
You had it all! What happened? ?
Students can still do that in many jurisdictions, as long as you are only X credits away from graduation. But we really discourage it as many students do not put the necessary time in to pass.
My first bar was the Florida bar with a 60% pass rate. But don’t be impressed, they had no reciprocity and most of the takers who didn’t pass were older lawyer snowbirds who wanted to retire in FL but still maintain a little practice. That and all the Floriduh men and women…
satby
@WereBear: I agree. And our cultural avoidance of death IRL as opposed to everywhere in our entertainment makes it feel odd to not rush to a vet for a quick end. But we forget that some endings aren’t torturous, sometimes the end can come as a quiet shutting down and sleeping away. He’s letting me know he’s not in pain, just very tired and ready to rest. If he was restless or agitated it would be a different story, one ending with a ride to the ER vet to spare him obvious discomfort. That’s traumatic too, though far less than drawn out suffering. Been down this road both ways.
debbie
@jeffreyw:
I’m surprised he tolerates their existence at all.
rikyrah
Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) Tweeted:
The current version of #SB9 doesn’t even do what it set out to do: attach paper trails to ballots to make them more secure.
Now, its opponents believe the effect of the current draft would be to suppress votes. https://t.co/0rIc6Wp4Uc via @rossramsey #txlege https://twitter.com/TexasTribune/status/1129422178712203265?s=17
rikyrah
In m-o-d-e-r-a-t-i-o-n please help
rikyrah
@satby:
You are good people, satby.
Raven
@Anne Laurie: Does the placebo effect happen when you don’t really believe it works?
satby
@rikyrah: aw, thanks rikyrah.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Sunday morning campaign slogan testing?
Dog Mom
@satby: Happy Belated Birthday! I hope that you are still celebrating! Give all your pups a pet and a hug.
Poison Ivy question – I have too much too and it is unfortunately too mature . I was hoping that I could just cut some back in a specific few areas, cover with weed cloth and mulch and let it sit it the dark for a year or two. Anyone think that might work?
Barbara
@Sab: If stumps are big enough, we were told to gouge a hole in them and insert rock salt and cover with plastic. I will not knowingly get within 10 yards of the stuff so my husband is going to give it a go. There were times when I felt like I only had to think about the stuff to get a rash, I am so allergic to it.
Barbara
@Dog Mom: Not really, but it might kill some of it.
chris
Late to the thread, working on next year’s firewood. Blech.
Found this incredible garden. Google for many more pics, I can’t stop looking at it.
Linda Stoddart
@OzarkHillbilly: You’re looking forward to winter and I’m just wanting to wear shorts and flip flops. It’s 34*, lightly snowing and we’re expecting two more rounds of snow through Thursday. Welcome to spring in the Sierra.
mrmoshpotato
@chris: Garden of cosmic speculation indeed! That’s awesome!
scav
There are about seven seeding trays waiting outside for me today: Mom’s white garden experiment is going to be enthusiasically full. My personal project is merely “a better class of weed” across the street next to the cow pasture and its blues are on the trembling verge of erupting into a riot of yellows, oranges and magenta.
satby
@chris: that’s amazing!Only open to the public one day a year ?
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Pouring ATM here in NorCal, mimicing yesterday, the difference being while they ran the HS track meet yesterday anyway (although the high jump was postponed because nobody could even hit the starting height) today’s soccer tournament is cancelled (lightning predicted) so the kid gets to sleep in.
Teens do NOT get enough sleep.
Glad the bike race was last weekend and not today. They’d never come back.
trollhattan
@Barbara:
I think this is where civilian drones come in. Roundup bombing runs from the comfort of the kitchen table.
jeffreyw
@Immanentize:
Can you see this one?
chris
Poison ivy? Burn it! Get a propane torch and tape it to a stick so you don’t have to bend over and get too close. Start in the spring and keep at it every couple of weeks. If you’re worried about fire use the torch and then soak the area. Works well for other things too like weeds in the sidewalk.
No leaves, no life.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan:
Sarcasm Sunday?
Ruckus
@satby:
I have migraines. Have for decades. 2 yrs ago they were coming 1-2 a week. Doc put me on B2 and Magnesium Oxide and within a short time I was down to 1-2 a month. Now I run about 1 every 6-8 weeks, occasionally longer. And there is a pill for that. Now if I had a migraine 3-4 times a week, I probably wouldn’t be here because without intervention mine go to 12 on the pain scale. 12 is where you want someone/anyone to just shoot you, please.
@satby:
My experience with online selling is that all the sites get to be a pain after a while. Either they grow enough that they have to change how they operate or they change the rules/site because sure, why not, or the old site was so cludged together that the spit and baling wire no longer work. Of course some change because they are making money and get greedy.
chris
Round Up, if you must. Cut the offending bush, tree, etc. as close to the ground as you can and paint the stump with roundup right after it’s cut. But here’s the thing, use the strongest roundup concentrate and do not dilute it. Used to do this for money. Put your rubber gloves on, put some roundup in a small pot, tape a throwaway paint brush to a stick so you don’t have to bend over and go. Do not do this near ponds and creeks because you know what will happen.
SiubhanDuinne
@chris:
@satby:
I first learned about this amazing place a few years ago when the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra recorded Michael Gandolfi’s “Garden of Cosmic Speculation” (excerpt).
Would really love to plan a visit some year soon.
Brachiator
Raining off and on this morning in Southern California. Good excuse to try to do as little as possible today.
CaseyL
Traditional constant light drizzle here in Seattle, so I haven’t needed to water my green babies out on the deck. (I think overwatering is one of my ongoing sins, and am trying really hard to avoid it this time.)
One of the tomatoes has four blossoms, one strawberry has a blossom, and another strawberry is pushing out a bud. I go out frequently during the day to see how they’re doing. Not sure why the others haven’t put out any buds yet; I figure they’re just living their best life and enjoying the weather.
If and when I get irritated by lazy tomato and strawberry plants, I may try Crowley’s method, from Good Omens, to…. encourage them :)
Omnes Omnibus
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Do you follow Valdivia on twitter? She live tweets it.
Ruckus
@Immanentize:
Sisters business partner has made a number of log benches and he just seals the seating area with wood sealing oil, lets them age and burnishes them with rags till the oil no longer comes to the surface. Takes a few sessions with the oil/drying time/burnishing to look amazing and have no oil residue. I can not remember if he seals the ends of the log or not, but I’d bet he probably does.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I miss her. She always had good comments.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Eh, you just liked her because she laughed at your jokes.*
*As good a reason as any.
satby
@Ruckus: I honestly don’t know how my friend carried on with a near normal life during all that. I know she tried the magnesium and B2, Botox, all the usual drugs etc. The new drugs and Imatrex for breakthrough migraines have helped. Before she just popped Imatrex like candy. Way, way over the guideline usage.
Etsy is just getting greedy and controlling. Now they disabled any stand alone PayPal payments to fold them into their own payment system, hiked the fees, and take their fees upfront where it used to be a settlement at the end of the billing cycle. It’s messing up both my planning and my cash flow supporting that business.
Ruckus
@Immanentize:
Here’s a pic of one of his log benches.
Another
And another
satby
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m thinking road trip! Wonder what Elizabelle has planned for next year. We could make it a BJ group tour. I love Scotland.
satby
@Baud: @Omnes Omnibus: I do follow her on Twitter, but I miss her comments here too.
satby
@Ruckus: those are wonderful! How does he bend the legs, or does he just look for branches that fit his idea?
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
She had such good taste.
Cheryl Rofer
I love herding dogs.
WereBear
They always seem to pull this as competitors appear, which makes leaving easier.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t. I should look. The whole thing seems like a giant European shared party.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby: It seems like we have fewer commenters than we used to. I don’t know whether people got offended or discouraged or busy.
schrodingers_cat (HectoringBully)
@Baud: Since one of those people being referred to here may be me. I would like to state for the record that I do not think satby is a bad person. I have respect for her animal rescue efforts.
What I have realized since 2016 or whenever it was that T darkened the political horizon during the primaries. That no matter how many years I live here or whatever my legal status is, I am always going to be an outsider. Most people on this forum are not going to see things the way I do. And I am fine with it.So if giving voice to a different opinion hurts people’s feelings or their sense of decorum so be it. That is not my problem. I am not going to let personal attacks bother me.
Ruckus
@satby:
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Or some such crap as that. Really it is what it is. One of the ladies in my new senior apartment complex had polio as a kid, she rolls around in her wheelchair and is as upbeat as anyone I know. She’s my age. The girl I went to school with for 11 yrs was the same way. You live with what you got because there is only one other option. And I’m not ready for that. Young fella I worked with was born with two club feet. Operation after operation as a kid, at 27 he walked like a 100 yr old guy with extreme arthritis. A vivacious, fun and funny guy, all he wanted was to be happy and maybe pain free for just one day. He couldn’t take the pain and shot himself. Back in the late 60s I used to work with a black man, about 5 yrs older than me, born in Louisiana, dropped out of a segregated school in the 4th grade to work to support his mom, had a wife and a kid, then they had twins. He wasn’t dumb, or particularly smart, a normal guy had addition/subtraction, sort of knew multiplication/devision, we taught him trig in short order, so he could do more and earn more. One of the best human beings I’ve ever met. Not angry, happy, kind, loving husband/father. Live gave him shit, he did the best he could.
Do the best you can, don’t steal, pay your taxes, be kind to animals and kids, work towards a better future for us all, that’s all any of us get.
Aleta
@Cheryl Rofer:
Do you happen to know personally anyone in the northeast who would be a good, very stable home for two female Finnish Laphunds (6 and 8-9 yo) who just lost their person, my friend. They are not aggressive herders, gentle but very alert to change. Bark a short time, then quiet. The current hope is to find someone w/ no other dogs right now. They been living w two cats. If needed, can be separated. Thick overcoats that shed. I’ve known them for years.
MagdaInBlack
@schrodingers_cat (HectoringBully):
Whenever I see you “upset” in comments I recognize that your world view of the ongoing Trump disaster is different than mine; your fear is different and deeper. It is impossible for me to “know ” what you feel because your life experiences have been different.
I wish there was something I could do to help you feel more safe.
I can only tell you that I want you here and I look forward to your comments here ?
Miss Bianca
@TerryC: That sounds so cool. Second (or third) the request for garden photos!
TerryC
@satby: I will. Thanks.
As the crows do fly, we are five miles southwest of the University of Michigan diag in Ann Arbor, but on a quiet dirt road.
Ruckus
@satby:
Those legs are made of rebar and concrete, layered and textured on by hand and the concrete stained for the color. His bathroom has a waterfall into the sink with a two way valve that turned the other way goes into the tub. The sink and counter are all one piece concrete. It looks both organic/natural and obviously designed at the same time. He’s a real artist who works in bigger and solid pieces, builds amazing gardens.
satby
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I suspect all of the above. I still think we have society wide PTSD.
I post under an odd nym, but it’s a childhood nickname many people know me by IRL, and it links to my real name and business. I have nothing to lose in confronting someone here or on FB or in real life: not a job or future job, not social standing. Most people would rather disengage and move on with life, which may be a better way to handle things.
Though in Valdivia’s case, IIRC she left after an ill considered “God mode” threat by a former administrator of the blog.
Miss Bianca
@Aleta: Oh, how I wish we could take them at the Mountain Hacienda! My friend D and I have been looking at Lappies for a while now. We figured they combined the best traits of our favorite breeds (mine Siberian Husky, his Pomeranian). ; )
We live out in southern CO, with a husky-wolf mix and a lab-pittie mix, but sure…we would take them! We would even come out and get them!
satby
@Ruckus: wow! He’s an incredible artist.
satby
@Miss Bianca: yay! Should we do a fundraiser for transport costs?
satby
@schrodingers_cat (HectoringBully): what was commented on by me was your behavior toward other commenters and front pagers, not your personal self. There is a difference, but it’s not going to be a discussion I will engage in. My statement was my own opinion, I won’t presume to speak for anyone else.
It is however, hysterical that you interpreted Baud’s statement as all about you, and that you think “hectoring bully” is some badge of honor. It’s not.
Miss Bianca
@satby: Sure! Altho’ D says he would be happy to drive out to get them. “Unless they’re in Maine, or something,” he says, which they probably are, LOL!
Ruckus
@satby:
I agree with WereBear, do your own site. It isn’t that difficult, I did so with my shop, a cousin did the first pass with the design and I went from there. Now there are sites that provide what you need and can host for either free or not for much, depending on your traffic. The dreaded WP, Blogger(google) and others. It can be tough going at first if you don’t have any computer experience other than sitting in front of one, but reality is that it isn’t that tough, especially for a reasonable store such as yours.
Omnes Omnibus
@satby: God help me, I am going to stick up for Tommy a little bit. She had stopped commenting a little before that so it is not really something that can be laid at his feet. It was more a combination of family obligations, work, etc. than anything else.
zhena gogolia
We’re all frazzled. I wish we could be kinder to each other. And I wish people could be allowed to say nice things about their favored (Democratic) candidates without being jumped on. It’s toxic. Personally, I find that homophobia is as big a problem as any other bias around here.
Cheryl Rofer
I’ve put up a separate thread for the Finnish Lapphunds.
Very exciting that Miss Bianca wants to take them. Maybe I’ll get to see them sometime!
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Seconded.
Aleta
@Miss Bianca: @satby:
I just learned yesterday (to my surprise) that no home has been found for them, and I promised to help. Two other friends and our vet are the ones in charge who would give the OK. The dog’s caretaker/housesitter for the last 7 months is leaving in a week, and then the house is being cleaned and sold, and the feeling is they should not go back to the breeder if at all possible. Miss Bianca: I thought about you right away b/c they are spitz-y too. I don’t know why the ‘only dogs’ part, but I’ll ask. (My dog visited when I was staying w them 3 yrs ago; they were not aggressive to him, though they crowded him. Their house.) These two are very friendly and love petting and balls, but will settle quietly too. At first they used to escape and to go for runs through the woods on their own. So they have radio collars now and also got much better fencing.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat (HectoringBully):
I like you, respect your education in widely varying fields, your command of multiple languages, etc. One recommendation I would make is about your thought:
Don’t regard disagreements as personal attacks, they usually are not. Part of this is the nature of on-line communication, which has no visible or audible information along with the actual words, and no feedback of any sort.
I had some monumental misunderstandings in my work environment back in the day over opinions and facts shared via email. We had workers separated by miles of distance or being on different floors, and would email rather than phone, and some people misunderstood what was written.
Of course if someone attacks you as a supporter of Trump or as a Russian troll, that’s just crazy talk, and unlikely here. Too good a command of English vernacular to be Russian troll~!!~
Also not a bot, too verbal and varied for that!!
But even a raging argument [ over the best opera, for a silly example ] isn’t intended as a personal attack. Once one gets into attacks with rusty tools, that may be intended personally… ;-)
Miss Bianca
@Aleta: Ah, oh boy, they would probably love it here! No shortage of room to roam. However, the “radio collar” thing would definitely be a consideration, they would need them – we’re getting them for Roxy and Watson! And we are now looking at where we would put a fenced kennel/yard area.
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: ah, ok. I sit corrected. It was quite a while ago and tensions were high then too.
Sorry to put you in that position ?, that’s why I didn’t name names.
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato:
Mine is lucky to net seven hours and from quizzing friends and other parents, she’s not an outlier. I’d prefer eight to nine per night and that only happens occasionally on weekends.
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
I’ve just been walking around my apt talking to myself, trying to find the words.
I haven’t found the ones I want yet.
We all have prejudices, it’s the way humans roll. If we are capable we learn better and let them go. If we aren’t, we nurture them and let them grow.
We all have a way of communicating, often our own way, one that may not quite agree with other ways. We all have our own experiences, that shape us in both good and bad ways. Some live with illness and/or pain which colors their view of their world. Some live with cultural/language differences that affect the way they view the world. Some are just assholes for the sake of being an asshole – looking towards DC at this moment. We all react to the world around us, sometimes well sometimes not well at all. And we are all, at any particular point in time, happy, sad, angry, ecstatic, worried, hurting, scarred…….. We all need to keep in mind as we go through our days that the world affects others differently at any given time than it does us and that we all respond differently to the same input and for many different reasons.
What do you know, I found them in the keyboard.
Suburban Mom
@Sab: Thanks!
schrodingers_cat
@satby: Fuck you and your sanctimony. I don’t need good behavior certificates from St satby.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
When I was a teen I’d get anywhere from 4 to 12 hrs a night. Now I get from 4 to occasionally 8 hrs a night. I’ve heard it’s better to get a very regular 8-9 hrs a day. I actually wonder how many humans do that, because it seems not all that many do.
TomatoQueen
I wanted to say what a glorious garden and award bonus points for the planter box with violas, lobelia, and alyssum. Love them all.
schrodingers_cat
@J R in WV: Not all disagreements are personal attacks but some are.
MagdaInBlack
@Ruckus:
You said it much better than I.
Most people are carrying scars we cant see or even imagine.
Its not that hard to extend a little grace, and it costs nothing.
eta:…..and it’s good for your own soul ?
trollhattan
@Ruckus:
I’m unwillingly settled into a sleep donut pattern–drop off easily and sometime during dark o’clock, wake up. Most nights I get back to sleep but others….
There’s no workplace dispensation for the four-hour nights. Complete sentences, I think I talk them!
schrodingers_cat
@MagdaInBlack: Thank You.
zhena gogolia
@Ruckus:
You are so sweet.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
Wow. She’s sitting there with a dying dog and you write that? What is going on with you? Your big grievance about her is that she likes Buttigieg. Why does that deserve this treatment?
schrodingers_cat (HectoringBully)
@zhena gogolia: I have no grievance about her. She can like any presidential candidate. Just as I can criticize any candidate.
And I am sorry about her dog. She has been telling me how I have been commenting wrong for over two years now. I have reached the limit of my endurance. She can call me a hectoring bully, tell me to nail myself to a cross but if I stand up for myself then I am a bad person. Its as if she can say just about anything but I am not allowed to stand up for myself.
Fine. I accept that judgment.
You don’t have to read my comments if you find them offensive.
Ruckus
@MagdaInBlack:
I am reminded of this every day. Especially now, as I attempt to glide through the day. Said gliding having bumps, gullies, and every other type of obstacle, some of which bothered me not at all 2 or 3 yrs ago. Some travel through life like on a flower lined path, the temp always at 72 deg, the sun always shinning – but not too bright, the sky is blue, everyone is their friend, their wallet is never empty. For others it’s the exact opposite, for most of us it’s somewhere inbetween at any given moment. And you never know which it will be at any given moment. It’s either interesting or debilitating. And you never know which it will be at any given moment. And of course there are the exceptions, the sick bastards, people who can look in the mirror and the shit that stares back at them looks like something completely different. I’m looking towards the WH at the moment.
Quinerly
@schrodingers_cat: what in dog’s name is wrong with you? I swear I quit reading comments for awhile because everytime I dipped in you were beating the same old dead horse and/or taking offense at any slight and threatening to leave. Dipped in today thinking things might have settled down but no… it’s the “hectoring bully” tag and attacking a woman whose dog is dying. Please, just give it a break. We are all on the same side. So tiresome.
satby
@schrodingers_cat (HectoringBully): aha, this goes back to the Hillary Rettig days, when every vegan thread she put up you felt a need to berate her rather than just skip them (as I pointed out at the time). I suspected as much.
We’re done here.
schrodingers_cat (HectoringBully)
@Quinerly:
What side is that? Where you decide what’s best for me, and what I am allowed to say?
Never promised to be exciting.
.
MagdaInBlack
Screw this pointless bickering. Im going outside to read. I recommend it.
schrodingers_cat
@MagdaInBlack: Agreed. I will follow you. I need to do some weeding.
Quinerly
@schrodingers_cat :
DONE
Quinerly
@J R in WV: excellent comment. I missed it earlier. Very thoughtful.
debbie
@MagdaInBlack:
Reading anything good? I’m in the middle of Ian McEwan’s “Machines Like Me.” I guess everyone feels they have to write dystopic. :/